Category Archives: Drawing Tutorials

Learn How to Draw an Old Man’s Face in Two Point Perspective Part 1 of 5

Today we are going to draw an old man’s face. Let’s start with a rectangle in perspective. That’s right, we should start with curving in some basic shapes and then to make the face from that. We should put down the horizon line with two vanishing points. Draw some simple shapes. The reason why we have to hit the vanishing points is to create the structure in perspective. One might ask — why do we want to draw the old man’s face in perspective? The answer is very simple — we don’t always want to have some flat drawings. Perspective will definitely give some volume to the drawing.

After we are done with the basic shapes will start subdividing them and start drawing curved lines; in order to do that we will have to dissect the corners so that the lines meet in the center. Dissect as many corners as you can because it will make your life easier as soon as you start free hand the curved lines.

Use your rough lose pencil to start carving shapes in. It will help us to understand what we actually want to achieve.

Now we are ready to start drawing the chin. Go around and see what you can do with the drawing. As soon as it is done we can start drawing an eye and eyebrow. The distance between both eyes is of the size of an eye. Keep moving on with the nose.

Start mapping things out like hair and shape of the head. Keep it lose and rough.

Draw the mouth by marking where it is going to be.

Let’s take another pencil and over exaggerate the iris of the eye because whenever you look at a photograph you will always see a dot of the iris in the eye.

Learn How to Draw an Old Man’s Face in Two Point Perspective Part 2 of 5

Let’s see what we can do with the corners at the top of the nose, but we do want to focus on the eyes. Don’t put one continues line. Look how I go back and forth in the drawing.

Keep on working on the eyes. Switch to the pen and over exaggerate the eyes because that is the soul of the drawing. Draw some lines under the eye including a line under the nose. Block the nose and add details — we need to get some expression into the old man’s face. It is very good working with the pen because it will definitely help you to practice as you decide to draw digitally.

I still need to draw the other eye; therefore, let’s switch to a pencil of the different color. Work around and get the feel of your drawing. Keep moving on with adding details to the face.

Learn How to Draw an Old Man’s Face in Two Point Perspective Part 3 of 5

I don’t draw one continues line; I go back and forth in the drawing. Basically you are working on the full drawing and not on one part of it only. The reason why I’m using a different color pencil is to block more shapes in.

You can always erase any details you don’t like. There is a great advantage in drawing with the pen because those lines will remain. There are too many work lines in our drawing; therefore, let’s get rid of them now and add some details afterwards.
Now you can see the structure of the character underneath. Sit back and think what you want to achieve and what has to be added or altered to do so. Let’s start with the eyes. We need to exaggerate them so that they pop out of the drawing. As soon as one eye is done we can switch to the other side. Add some details to the face.

Some people don’t like erasing lines, but I like it a lot because at the end of the day it will give more life and sense of depth to the drawing. I don’t care about how many lines I add because I want to structure the drawing and make it look the way I want to. When you draw digitally you can undo actions you have made and the same here – I can delete lines whenever I want to.

Now we can dig in with much darker pencil to make a different structure. What I can do, I can add more creative details. Once it is done I will go back and add the final details with the pen.

Keep working on the chin shape and facial lines. Add some life to the drawing. As you can see I follow the rough lines here by adding some details. Work out the curved lines and avoid the straight ones or your drawing will look stiff and lifeless.

Learn How to Draw an Old Man’s Face in Two Point Perspective Part 4 of 5

Keep working on the mouth. Now we can use a softer pencil to add some block shading. Work around the eyes and use your fingers to smudge the lines. The reason why I’m using a different pencil is to add some more lines that will mix with the other lines.

Now let’s erase some of the lines and see what we can do. Later on it will allow me to simplify the shapes. As you can see those other color lines we can see quite clearly. Actually while I am doing this I think what I can do next. I like those soft colors that are mixed with the other ones.

Now we are ready to work with the pen and add some details. Start with the eye as that is the most important part of the drawing. Sometimes it is good to scan your drawing before you erase the lines because it will allow you to go back and see what was where.

Go around the head with the pen and details. I need to connect eyes with the nose. There are no continues lines here because otherwise there wouldn’t be any life in the drawing.

Now we can start switching between different pencils, pen and markers.

The face starts to come together.

Learn How to Draw an Old Man’s Face in Two Point Perspective Part 5 of 5

Let’s erase some of the lines we don’t need. Let me remind you what we have done:

– We started with the two vanishing points
– We drew the horizon line
– We drew some simple shapes like squares and rectangles in perspective
– Finally we created rounded lines and shapes from the simple shapes

Let’s finish our drawing; nothing much has been left to do. Go back to the eyes and enhance them with the pen. Work around the head and add details to the hair, eyebrows and everything else.

Sit back and evaluate what else has to be added to achieve your goal.

Add some shades and soften them up – blur with your finger. Work on mouth and some extra details under it. Now we have an old man’s face in perspective.

Learn How to Draw a Cartoon Airplane in Two Point Perspective Part 1 of 5

Today we are going to draw an airplane. Let’s start with a rectangle in two point perspective. Before we begin we need to figure out where our horizon line and vanishing points will be. Sit back and think what kind of look you are going for.

We need to start with the square shapes and then we will round them up. As you hit the vanishing points think creatively what you are going to draw. Block objects with lose lines in perspective.

What we are going to do next is to use is to work with a different color pencil in that way we will be able to choose whichever lines we want to work with.

When drawing a circle in perspective, start with a rectangle, draw two diagonal lines to find the center and then start drawing the circle in perspective.

Learn How to Draw a Cartoon Airplane in Two Point Perspective Part 2 of 5

Let’s take another much darker pencil and start adding details. When you draw a circle in perspective start with a rectangle first, then you dissect the corners down to the middle in the center and try to pre-hand those points to draw the circle in perspective.

We hit some vanishing points and start to darken the drawing up a little bit. Whenever we add anything we always hit the vanishing points. It is very easy to draw if you follow that simple rule. On this side of the airplane everything hits this point, but on that side of the airplane everything hits that point.

Now we start rounding things up a bit and get some edges in. It is always a mix of straight lines and round edges to make creative drawings. Keep things loose even though we use a darker pencil.

Once again we will dissect the corners down to the center in order to draw a circle in perspective. As soon as it is done we can start adding curves to the straight lines.

Creatively let’s get some shapes in here and follow some of the line work we have carved in. Sit back and think what you can do to add some details in order to add some life to the airplane.

Let’s start to make some shapes on the top of the airplane. It is about adding creative details to the rectangles. Add some curves by dissecting corners down to the center in that way we will make sure that the curves hit the vanishing points and our drawing is in perspective.

We can add some final details inside of the airplane. As we move on we can see that circular curves work very well with the straight edges.

Let’s move on with the back of the airplane. It is very essential to hit the vanishing points!

Learn How to Draw a Cartoon Airplane in Two Point Perspective Part 3 of 5

Make sure that you have rectangles first and then you can add details and curves.
Keep adding some creative details and have some fun with that!

Let’s darken the edges underneath the airplane, slow down a bit and pick up the lines that we want to enhance. It is essential to get some confidence while you are drawing because it will give you better results.

Now let’s switch to the softer pencil because I’m not really sure where the wings of the airplane are going to be yet. I have a shape here, but I want to go over and revise it. Let’s see what we can do to get a circular shape for the wing.

Let’s block the wings and wheels of the airplane. If you know how to draw a rectangle in perspective you can basically do everything.

You have to be very careful when drawing curved lines in perspective. Dissect corners down to the center and then draw curves free hand.

Follow the rough lines when adding details to the drawing.

Learn How to Draw a Cartoon Airplane in Two Point Perspective Part 4 of 5

Now let’s switch to the pen. Gain some confidence and draw over the pencil lines to give some structure to the drawing. Look and think what kind of details you want to add. More you add now will look better later after you color the drawing. Think about adding some sense of depth to the drawing by working on the line quality and highlights.

Now we are ready to erase some of the lines. Get rid of the lines you don’t need. That is why we’ve used the pen to make the task easier. Later on you can scan your drawing and add lines on the computer or you can move on with your pencil drawing. Don’t be afraid of erasing lines because you can always get them back. Some of the artists erase so much that it looks like that there is almost nothing left, but in reality the lines that remain on the paper will give sense of depth to the drawing.

Let’s start do cleanups and knocking lines back in. Pick up the lines, simplify the drawing and add some creative details.

As you can see we use various pencils, pens and markers to make drawings and that is the whole point.

Learn How to Draw a Cartoon Airplane in Two Point Perspective Part 5 of 5

Now we can take a darker marker and start adding details. In order to build your confidence before you erase the lines you can scan your drawing and then you will have a reference what you wanted to draw and how you wanted it to look like.

With the marker hit the lines you like.

In order to add the propeller start with a pencil otherwise if you make a mistake with the marker it will be very hard to fix it.

Add some block shading to the drawing with a pencil to give some sense of depth and add some creative elements. Use your finger to blend it in.

Today we are going to draw a city in One Point Perspective — buildings in the city going into One Point Perspective. Let’s start our drawing with the vanishing point and horizon line. In order to get the feel of the drawing we need to determine where vanishing point will be. Feel free to improvise and change it depending on what you want to achieve. Start mapping lines in.

Now we need to draw lines that disappear in the distance in order to get the feel of the drawing. If you can draw a rectangle in a perspective you can do anything. As soon as we are satisfied with the result we can start drawing lines from the vanishing point that will help us to draw buildings and objects in perspective.

Let’s start blocking a building and street. The top line here represents the roof of the building. Please remember that horizontal lines should be parallel to the horizon line. To map out windows and doors we should draw a number of vertical lines. Everything has to match the vanishing point.

Ok, let’s start adding some details and drawing some other buildings. They should be of a different size. As soon as we have blocked the buildings we can move to the other part of the drawing. The same principles apply. We want to have something in the foreground to add sense of depth to the drawing. Please remember that lines in perspective should hit the vanishing point.

Now we can start adding some details to the buildings on the right side of the drawing. Use rough lose lines to shape the objects. As you are doing that you can think creatively about what to add next and how the buildings and objects will look like. Let’s draw a sign post here and match it to the vanishing point and the horizon line.

Move on and shape the buildings in perspective. Think about what you want to have in the distance. Make the drawing more interesting by pushing the viewer’s eye deeper into it. As soon the middle ground is finished we are ready to move on.

Ok, let’s sit back and look at the drawing first. We need to figure out where the details are going to be. We need to get a feel for it. Let’s take a pencil and dig in. In this stage pay attention to the line quality — straight edges and round shapes. In every drawing it is essential to have this particular combination. Draw lines over the block shapes to start adding details.

Ok, let’s try to map out the sidewalk by adding some details and hitting the vanishing point. These new lines should be dark enough so that when we erase other lines the details are still visible. That’s why it is very important to use a soft pencil to map out lines and block buildings at the very beginning of your drawing.

Let’s draw a door here. Use some round lines and match them with the vanishing point. Move on by adding windows and more doors. Add some details to the top part of the building.

Learn How to Draw a City in One Point Perspective Part 2 of 5

Keep adding shapes and curves to the front side of the building. Match the curves with the lines of the rectangle and its center point. We have many rough lines to work with. Add shapes and details. See, we can start with a rectangle and get the shape we want.

Think creatively what can be added. There are no limits to your imagination. Work over the rough lines and add some life to the buildings.

Sit back and take a look at what you have in order to get the feel of the drawing. Think about how to make each building different so that the drawing is more interesting. Eventually we want to have something in the background that will catch the viewer’s eye.

In case of the buildings in the foreground we want to add some extra details to make them more interesting. Creatively I go over the graph lines and think what to add. As I am adding details I match everything with the vanishing point.

When working on details it is not about adding too many lines, but making them to stand out so that we can lead the viewer’s eye all through the drawing up to the vanishing point.

Let’s establish the top of the building in the background. Always keep in mind where the vanishing point and horizon line is.

Learn How to Draw a City in One Point Perspective Part 3 of 5

Let’s mark the front of the sidewalk here. We follow the simple lines and shapes by adding details. Add some birds in the distance.

Now we are ready to start using marker. Work on the line quality so that buildings and objects stand out more. Sit back and take a look at the drawing. Assess the feel and look of it.

With the thicker marker start adding edges to the building. Build some confidence by doing that.

You don’t have to make one straight line; use short strokes.

As you move on. Use the lines you already have and add some more details. What we should do is to work on different buildings and come back where you started to add and alter lines and shapes. Each building has its own character and feel.

The first inspiration is the best. That is why we don’t want to make any cardinal changes. Work with what you have, by adding something new and making some minor adjustments.

Learn How to Draw a City in One Point Perspective Part 4 of 5

Ok, let’s take a look at what we can do to line things up. Some edges are missing; therefore, let’s make straight edges to match up so that they hit the vanishing point. As we draw we should always have to keep an eye on it.

Lines are not as thick in the background because they are much further away. Add some creative details, but stick to the original plan. Get some contrast by shading details.

Let’s add more details to the windows that are in the front part of the building. While I’m doing that I think about the creative part of the drawing — what to add.

You have to be very careful with the edges — hit the corners. You can make them lose as you move closer to the vanishing point.

Now I will add details to the building in the back here. I want them to stand out a bit so that they catch the viewer’s eye. I don’t want to add too many details.

We want to have something in the vanishing point that will grab the viewer’s eye because that is where the viewers will be looking.

We already moved the center of the street twice; therefore, let’s block it in. Draw the lines and hit the edges. Make sure they are not open.

Let’s keep drawing the buildings on the right side of the street. Outline the buildings and add window shapes.

Add details and increase the pace as we move forward. We want the foreground to stand out. Think about the balance of the drawing while doing that.

Learn How to Draw a City in One Point Perspective Part 5 of 5

Let’s see what kind of lines we can add. It is much easier to work on the right side of the buildings because we have established details on the left side.

We don’t use a ruler in these drawings.

We started with the soft pencil, moved on with a pencil of a different color and finished everything with two kinds of markers — think and thick. Now we can erase some of the lines.

Use a thicker marker to go over the lines again. Give life to the buildings and objects we have in the drawing.

Now we can work on block shading and highlight of the drawing. While doing that think about how to make the viewer’s to move towards the vanishing point. Make sure that you work on the right and left side of the drawing equally.

Add some corner shapes to create the sense of depth. Also, add some thicker lines to the buildings and objects in the foreground.

In this four part tutorial we will learn how to draw two eyes. Let’s begin with a straight line, which will serve as a horizon line and will give us an idea where the shapes are going to be. Then we should draw a vertical line to make a cross so that we know where the center point is. To achieve better results try to draw lose lines. At this stage the goal is to make a rectangle with the equal top and bottom parts.

As we move on we need to draw corner lines so that we know where our eyes are going to be. The width of the middle part between the eyes should be of the size of an eye. As soon as it is done we can move on with the oval shapes of the eyes to get a feeling of the eyes. Next step is to draw eyebrows. There are no particular rules on that, just sketch and see how it looks. Alter them as you want to achieve the look you are going for.

Time to time go back to the lines and redraw them so that you know where other shapes like nose and mouth are going to be. Mark the shapes of the eyes or in other words make the shapes darker. After the shapes are blocked we can start drawing pupils of the eyes in the shape of a circle. As we move on mark out the shapes so that later on we can expression to the eyes.

Learn How to Draw Two Eyes Part 2 of 4

Take a marker and make the pupil of the eye darker. That is the area that we will exaggerate with the expressions once we get into the iris and center point of the eye.

Let’s start to mark in the center point and put some shapes in. Think about the lights that are going to shine into the eyes. The reflection has to be in the same direction in both eyes because we don’t want to make them look if they were floating. You should now connect the reflection of the light with the iris of the eye so that we can move on and work on the expression of the eyes.

Now we can start exaggerating outlines of the eyes. The most challenging part is to connect the upper and lower part of the oval. The goal here is to mix edges with the curves.

As we start drawing the other eye with the marker, you should always keep in mind where the other eye will be looking at. We want to make both eyes look into the same direction. In order to achieve that attach both pupils to the same cheek area.

The second eye should be a little bit smaller than the first one. As we keep drawing don’t forget about the reflection of the light source in the other eye.

We started with the oval shapes, but now we can shape both eyes so that we can get more realistic look of them. We need to exaggerate the center point of both eyes to add expression and character.

Learn How to Draw Two Eyes Part 3 of 4

We slow down a little bit in order to figure out where the edge of the nose will be. The top part is coming from the forehead into the nose. We are not going to draw the nose here, but we need to figure out where the eyebrow will touch it.

Now we can move on with the eyebrows by adding different shapes to them. Also, at this stage we can start adding details to all of the elements we have here.

It is very useful to stop for a moment and take a look at your drawing so that you can get the feel and make sure that you are working in the desirable direction.

Eyes is a very important part of the human body because approximately 80% of the people look into the eyes first. By adding the right expression to the eyes you put the soul into the drawing. All the other body parts serve the secondary role.

Now we can take a pen and add some darker lines to the eyes, which will allow us to work more on the quality of the lines — softer, darker or lighter. Add some details with the pen over the top of the drawing. Avoid using one long line, but use lots of shorter lines instead otherwise your drawing will not have any life in it.

Keep working with the pen, stop and evaluate the result — what should be added and what has to be changed. Don’t be afraid of spending an extra time on your drawing because it is about the end result and not the time.

Learn How to Draw Two Eyes Part 4 of 4

Let’s go back to the drawing and erase the construction lines. I love working with the simple lines at the beginning and then to move on to the more complex ones as we progress with the drawing.

Now we can add details and finish drawing with some shading. This part is more about the creative side less constructive. I would recommend having a cheek line in the drawing otherwise both eyes will look like if they were floating.

Apply block shading to your drawing to achieve the sense of depth. Move your pencil around so that the lines blend in with the rest of the drawing.

Leticia, a Graphic Design student from the Visual College of Art & Design (VCAD), talks to us about her graduating portfolio work and why she chose to go to VCAD. Whether it’s the right classes, assignments or instructors, VCAD can help launch your dream career.

In this tutorial we will create a new semi realistic character. Why semi realistic? Just because you have to make your own characters if you want to make money in the commercial art business. We will start with the basics of the realistic drawing — two lines and an oval. Our character will have over exaggerated eyes so that we get more of the expression at the end of the drawing.

We begin with the proportions to figure out where the character’s eyes, nose, and mouth will be. Then we proceed with the shape of an eye and switch to the second eye. The center point between two eyes is about of the size of the eye. We move on to the eyebrows to establish the facial expression of the character. After that is done, we move on to the nose. It will be in the shape of a tie. We line up nostrils with the mouth. In case of the young people, mouth and nose areas are smaller, that is why eyes should be bigger.

In order to get the feel of the character, we continue with the pupils and keep working on the shapes of the mouth, eyes, and nose. We should use soft pencil to get loose shapes during the development of the character. That allows us to do lots of drawings inside of the character and we can go back at any time. Marker or anything else can be used afterwards when we have gotten what we wanted to in terms of the expression and look of the character.

We move on with the hair line and chin line. When that is done we will exaggerate the highlights of the pupils.

Learn How to Draw a Young Girl’s Face Part 2 of 5

Both eyes of the character should point to one direction so that they don’t look as if they’re floating. After pupils are finished we contour the top line of the eye and finish up with the lower line. Next is the eyebrow. We switch to the other side of the face, which should be slightly different. Please, remember that human face is not symmetric. Then we move to the nose, mouth, and nostrils. One always should remember that drawing a mouth is always a mixture of round lines and straight edges.

Do not stay on one part of the drawing for too long because you should work on the overall feel of the drawing. Eyes give the expression to the character; therefore, it is very important to work them out in the best possible ways so that you are satisfied with the results.

Next step is the structure of the face and head so we can figure out where to place the hair line, cheeks and chin. Lock the shapes you are satisfied with.

Now we can erase the construction lines to start adding the creative elements to take the drawing to another level.

Learn How to Draw a Young Girl’s Face Part 3 of 5

With the thicker pencil we start drawing hair and adding details to the eyes, nose, mouth and face. The reason for that is to get the feel of the lines that have to be carved in. Step back and take a look at what you have and what has to be changed. Add hair to get the look.

In the next step, you can use markers, pencils, or pens. It doesn’t really matter. The only thing that matters is the result.

Add life to the character; don’t change shapes because it is already too late. Shaping has to be done before carving.

We move on with block shading. Use your fingers or eraser. Block shading for the hair and find the neck line. Add eyelashes and details to the eyes.

Get a darker marker and start highlighting the pupils of the eyes.

Learn How to Draw a Young Girl’s Face Part 4 of 5

Add details to get the connection between expression and personality of the character.

It is a good idea to stop from time to time and take a look at what you have. Get a darker marker and add darker lines to you your drawing. Pay attention to the quality of the lines. Block the shading.

Go back to the eyes and work more on their details because they determine the emotion and feel of the character. Look for the soft lines and make them darker to get the character’s personality.

Learn How to Draw a Young Girl’s Face Part 5 of 5

Use the marker to work on the character’s hair to add some extra life. Different shading techniques can be applied — crosshatching, loose lines or anything else you are comfortable with.

Go over again and enhance the character’s details. Use different lines and shading. Finish up with the eyes and eyelashes.

The drawing is finally finished. What we have here is a little girl looking up.

Free drawing tutorial by the Storyboarding, Drawing and Animation Instructor at Visual College of Art and Design of Vancouver (VCAD) Glen Kennedy.

VCAD instructor Glen Kennedy introduces fundamental drawing techniques to encourage young artists to develop and hone their drawing skills. In this 5 part drawing series, viewers can follow along with Glen to learn how to sketch a boat. Glen has worked for several large studios throughout his career such as Disney, Universal Studios and Marvel Productions.

VCAD instructor Glen Kennedy introduces fundamental drawing techniques to encourage young artists to develop and hone their drawing skills. In this 6 part drawing series, viewers can follow along with Glen to learn how to sketch a woman character. Glen has worked for several large studios throughout his career such as Disney, Universal Studios and Marvel Productions.